Johnson, Wilson battle it out on TV

Tribute dinner: The Youngstown Warren Black Caucus is holding its fourth annual dinner at 6 p.m. Sept. 28 at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. The event is a tribute to Yvette McGee Brown, the first black female justice on the Ohio Supreme Court. State Sen. Nina Turner of Cleveland, D-25th, will serve as mistress of ceremonies and the keynote speaker is Bishop Timothy Clarke of Columbus, a civil-rights activist.

Tickets are $50 each or $375 for a table of eight. Tickets can be purchased by calling Jaladah Aslam at 330-727-5758 or email her at jaladah3895@aol.com. Ticket sales end Sept. 24 and no tickets will be sold at the door.

FOP endorsement: The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge has endorsed U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Marietta, in the 6th Congressional District race. Johnson is being challenged by Democrat Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, who lost to the Republican in the 2010 race.

The rhetoric and accusations are already running wild in the 6th Congressional District race between U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson and Democrat Charlie Wilson.

Now it’s hit the airwaves.

Wilson, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee started airing critical television commercials this week.

Wilson, of St. Clairsville, who lost to Johnson in the 2010 election, already had a commercial that began airing in late August.

Johnson, a Republican from Marietta, had a small $9,390 buy on Youngstown TV network affiliates.

Johnson has a new commercial that begins airing Monday. His campaign has reserved $106,150 at the Youngstown network affiliates.

That’s small compared to $288,760 for Wilson, $474,490 for the DCCC and $390,000 for the NRCC.

Of course, as this race gets closer to the Nov. 6 general election, any and all parties can increase or decrease their buys.

Wilson’s new commercial touts his “independence” during his four years in the U.S. House.

The commercial states Wilson voted 105 times against bills supported by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi including cap and trade.

During his four years, Wilson voted with his party about 97 percent of the time, according to congressional voting databases.

That’s 3,422 votes with Pelosi.

“Wilson says he voted against San Francisco liberal Nancy Pelosi 105 times, but he voted with her more than 3,000 times, which includes helping to pass Obamacare and putting Pelosi two heartbeats away from the job of commander in chief,” when he supported her for speaker of the House, said Mark Weaver, Johnson’s campaign spokesman.

The commercial has received national attention because Wilson is critical of not only Pelosi, but President Barack Obama’s “bad trade deals.”

The commercial isn’t a strategic move to distance Wilson from Pelosi, President Obama and fellow Democrats, but to show his independence, said J.R. Starrett, Wilson’s campaign manager.

Also the Johnson campaign is criticizing the DCCC commercial that states he profited when a company he worked for, before becoming a congressman, closed manufacturing plants in the United States and moved them overseas.

But it’s not the content that is being criticized.

The end includes a small piece of video of Johnson taken by a campaign staffer for Wilson that is posted on a “raw-footage” YouTube website channel.

The channels are run by Democratic candidates, but have similar web addresses making it easy for others to find them and use them.

Johnson’s campaign claims it shows Wilson and the DCCC illegally coordinated their efforts. However, there is no proof of that and both deny the allegation.

The NRCC commercial states because Wilson voted in favor of the $831 billion federal stimulus package while serving in Congress, he helped create jobs in China.

That bill resulted in about $2 billion going to foreign counties, including China.

The NRCC has used the stimulus-China criticism in this and other races that have a Democrat who voted for that bill.